The government entry into the fur trade was unsuccessful. The factors, as the proprietors of the trade “factories” were called, lacked experience in dealing with the Indians. They did not give credit advancements to them as did the other traders, and the American Fur Company applied pressure on Congress to end this system. Gradually this Company acquired the fur trade monopoly in this area; Solomon Juneau, Milwaukee’s famous founder, was one of the American Fur Company’s agents in what is now the State of Wisconsin. The gradual decadence of the fur trade, of course, increased the hardships of Wisconsin tribes.
[Illustration: OLD FORT WINNEBAGO (COURTESY OF THE WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY).]
[Illustration: THE SECOND OR STONE FORT CRAWFORD (COURTESY OF THE WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY).]
[Illustration: THE FIRST OR LOG FORT CRAWFORD (COURTESY OF THE WISCONSIN STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY).]
As settlers began encroaching on the Indians’ land, conflicts were inevitable. John C. Calhoun, the Secretary of War in 1825, sponsored a plan for the removal of eastern tribes across the Mississippi to the western plains. It was believed that by furnishing them with equipment for hunting and farming they could survive readily and would be safe from further pressure by white homesteaders. No one realized at this time how soon these western lands would be overrun by the relentless pressure of the American pioneer. The land purchased from the Indians was to be made available to American settlers. The lands of certain tribes of Wisconsin Indians were to be included in this overall plan.
Unfortunately for the smooth functioning of this operation, the Indians did not care to leave the land on which they and their ancestors had hunted for so long a time, and travel to new hunting grounds. In many instances they were not removed without a show of force, sometimes with considerable blood being shed by both whites and Indians.
In 1825, Lewis Cass and William Clark held a conference of Wisconsin tribes at Prairie du Chien. They hoped to establish definite boundaries for the holdings of the different tribes in order to eliminate friction between them. This would also facilitate future land purchases from the Indians. Roughly these boundaries were recognized: the southwest and southeast corners of Wisconsin were allotted to the southern Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi; the Winnebago held the remainder of southern Wisconsin; the Menomini kept the northeast part of the state from the Milwaukee River up; and the Chippewa held all of northern Wisconsin west of the Menomini. These Indian territories were not to be respected for very long by white squatters, however, and the Winnebago were to be among the first to encounter trouble from this source.